Brewers dunk Mariners 8-3

The MilwaukeeBrewers welcomed the Seattle Mariners with plenty of beer, brats, and bats tonight beating the visiting Seafarers 8-3. This one started out quite nicely for the Mariners who had Ryan Rowland-Smith on the mound up against Dave Bush. Neither of tonight’s starters are known for their overpowering stuff and the Mariners managed to score 3 runs in the first three innings playing small ball. Rowland-Smith had his big curve ball working early on and managed to get through the Brewers lineup without giving up a hit the first time through. For a minute it looked like we were going to revert back to last week’s ERA-heaven and with 3 runs we would cruise to a victory.

That all changed when the Brewers who lead the NL in homers with 89 came to bat in the fourth inning. For some reason Rob Johnson called for a fastball to catcher Jonathon Lucroy with 2 outs, 2 on, and 2 strikes rather than sticking with the breaking ball and Lucroy hit his first career home run to tie the game at 3-3. I watched the goofy little guy with the yellow beard come down the slide and figured we had learned our lesson, but oh no Smith came back with the same pitch and Gomez hit another one out making it 4-3. So just like that our boys were introduced to the land of homers and cheese. The Brewers went on to score eight runs before this one was over on only eight hits. The mariners collected seven hits on the night but the big difference was once again the long ball. It is one thing to hold teams down to 1 or 2 runs at Safeco field and feel smug, but you still have to go on the road and play the other 81 games.

On a positive note it was nice to see Mike Sweeney get the start at first tonight. Sweeney fielded his position well and picked up a couple of hits. Sweeney who played a lot of first with the Royals looks right at home tonight, both at first and in the cozy Miller field full of fun-loving Midwest type fans. Milwaukee fans love their Brewers and had one of their heroes RobinYount throw out the first pitch on turn-back the clock night. The player were wearing the uniforms from 1982 which was the year that Hall of Famer Yount led his team to their last World Series appearance. Of course besides Gaylord Perry in 1982 the Mariners were not what you would call contenders that year. Another future Hall of Famer TrevorHoffman came in to pitch the 9th inning for the Brewers and set down the M’s in order. Hoffman is probably in his last year and at 42 years old has lost a lot of zip off his once mid-90’s fastball that he used with the Padres but has the all-time lead in saves with 596.

This could be a long road trip for the Mariners who move on to play the Yankees then the Tigers after this series before returning home where Eric Bedard is scheduled to start on July 6th. If indeed Bedard makes it back into the rotation and proves he can produce, I look for Cliff Lee to go shortly thereafter. Jack Z. has shown some patience in giving the Mariners a chance to get back in this thing, but the reality is we need some help offensively. I just hope we can pick-up a player that can give our fans a reason to drink beer, eat brats, and brag as if we lived in Milwaukee. http://jeffsmariners.com